The overview in short reports on developments, results and assessments relating to German politics:
Housing industry GdW: Green plans would worsen the housing crisis
The leading association of the housing industry GdW expresses sharp criticism of the Green Party’s election program for the federal election. The party is proposing measures that ignore the basic economic mechanisms of the housing industry. Instead of solving the housing crisis, the proposed instruments threatened to further aggravate the dramatic situation. “The proposed measures – such as tightening the rent cap, lowering the cap on rent increases, upper limits for index rents and a rent freeze in tense markets – will not solve this task (of creating affordable housing),” said Axel Gedaschko, President of the GdW. These demands were based on the illusion that legal interventions could eliminate the actual construction and modernization costs. “But instead they lead to tense housing markets being cemented. Rising building prices on the one hand and a reduction in rents on the other lead to a halt to new construction,” he warned.
Union in Forsa survey with further losses
The Union parties have lost another percentage point in the current RTL/ntv trend barometer and are exactly at the 30 percent mark. As RTL further announced, the AfD gained one point and reached 19 percent for the first time since January 2024. The values for all other parties do not change compared to the previous week – for the SPD 17 percent, the Greens 13 percent, the FDP 4 percent, the Left 3 percent and the BSW 4 percent. If German citizens could elect the Chancellor directly and had the choice between Olaf Scholz and Friedrich Merz, 26 percent would currently choose Scholz or Merz. When asked who they most trust to bring Germany’s economy forward again as Chancellor, 18 percent named Scholz and 44 percent named Merz.
IW: Relief volume of the FDP projects at 138 billion euros
According to calculations by the German Economic Institute (IW), the election gifts planned by the FDP add up to a total of 138 billion euros. The IW sees a “big question mark” when it comes to financing the projects, as the FDP is not talking about tax increases and the debt brake should remain. Essentially, she relies on savings. The FDP’s proposed relief volume is therefore significantly higher than the plans of the Union, the Greens and the SPD. According to IW, the Union’s election program amounts to 89 billion euros, the SPD’s 30 billion and the Greens’ 48 billion euros. For the FDP, the gradual flattening of the income tax rate would result in tax revenues of a good 95 billion euros being lost; the reduction in corporate and trade tax would result in 17 billion euros being lost and the abolition of the solidarity surcharge would result in 13 billion euros.
SPD general secretary negotiates fairness agreement for election campaign
SPD General Secretary Matthias Miersch would like the parties to deal better with the election campaign. “We always have to maintain a certain level as democrats. That’s why I’m currently trying to conclude something like a fairness agreement with the other general secretaries,” said Miersch on the RTL and ntv show ” Frühstart “. “We are currently negotiating this and I hope that it will come to a conclusion. There are still some skeptical voices. But it would be important to me that we remain stable as democratic parties, especially in these turbulent times in which we can expect many attacks from outside Stand together in the middle.” There are no plans for a code of conduct that would include certain terms in the index. “It’s all about how we deal with the issue of fake news, for example. Especially the issue of social media,” he said.
Federal government starts talks with Syrian transitional government – report
Nine days after the Islamist organization “Hayat Tahrir al-Sham” (HTS) came to power, high-level talks between the federal government and the HTS government will begin in Damascus on Tuesday, according to a report. The meeting in the Syrian capital will take place with the foreign minister appointed by HTS leader Abu Mohammed Al-Jolani, who is already in negotiations with the USA and Turkey, the Bild newspaper wrote, citing government circles. The meeting is about the transition process and the protection of minorities. A spokeswoman for the Foreign Office told the newspaper that Syria should neither become a plaything for foreign powers nor an experiment by radical forces. The interim government will be judged by its actions. Any cooperation requires that ethnic and religious minorities are protected and the rights of women are respected.
Family businesses warn against tax plans from the SPD and the Greens
Immediately before the election programs of the SPD and the Greens were presented, medium-sized businesses reacted with sharp criticism to planned tax increases for the economy. “Habeck’s billionaire tax and the SPD’s wealth tax are new taxes on the entrepreneurial basis in Germany. With such mothball tax concepts, the de-industrialization and economic decline of our country would accelerate even more,” said the board member of the Family Business Foundation, Rainer Kirchdörfer , the Augsburger Allgemeine. Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) want to present their parties’ election programs on Tuesday. In order to relieve the burden on normal earners, the wealthy and wealthy should contribute more to financing the common good. In order to stimulate the economy, Kirchdörfer, however, called for taxes to be reduced.
FDP relies on cheap tariffs for unemployment insurance and stricter citizens’ benefits
The FDP is relying on the introduction of a low-cost tariff for unemployment insurance. “There must be the possibility of opting for lower contribution payments and, as a result, a lower entitlement to unemployment benefit,” says the draft of the FDP election program according to the editorial network Germany. “The resulting reduced employer contribution will be paid out net.” The risk of Long-term unemployment is ultimately lower in view of the increasing shortage of workers and skilled workers. The election program is to be decided by the party’s leadership committees on Tuesday.
Green Party leader Banaszak complains about Scholz’s lack of self-criticism
The Green Party leader Felix Banaszak sharply criticized the Chancellor’s speech on the question of trust. “I mean, if after three years you are no longer able to hold a government together and then you appear in front of the plenary with a self-confidence, as if you had done everything right and as if it was just a matter of continuing to do exactly the same thing, then you are broadcasting “But the signal to the people in this country: We didn’t understand or notice any of the criticism,” he said on RTL Direkt. The Greens, on the other hand, would prefer to show that they have learned from the debates of recent years. At the same time, against the background of the discussion of a possible coalition with the Union, he emphasized that he would like to invite Merz and “all party leaders of the democratic parties for beer, coffee, chamomile tea or whatever.” It should be normal for Democrats to talk to each other.
CDU wants to significantly slim down ministries
If it takes over government, the CDU wants to make drastic cuts to the ministries. “If we take responsibility, we will reduce the staff in the ministries by at least 15 percent in the medium term,” said Union faction deputy Mathias Middelberg (CDU) to the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung. A real turning point must also be reflected in the personnel budget. “Through consistent Digitalization “We will work more efficiently in the ministries with fewer staff,” said Middelberg. He criticized that the traffic light had “inflated itself in terms of personnel like no government before it. There have been 1,700 new hires since the beginning of the legislative period in the federal ministries alone, more than ever before.
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 17, 2024 07:42 ET (12:42 GMT)